Has Clarkson’s latest ‘fracas’ finally sealed Top Gear’s fate?

Oddly enough, it was Jeremy Clarkson’s outspoken and controversial nature that once upon a time ensured his employment.

Back in the days of ‘Old Top Gear’ when the BBC’s motoring programme was in a lonely and nerdy half-hour Thursday night slot, the producers decided to give a young Yorkshireman a chance.

Having cut his teeth on Performance Car magazine (a publication that would give starts to many of the best of the current crop of motoring journalists) Clarkson was offered a berth alongside the cuddly, jumper-wearing sorts of Chris Goffey and Tony Mason.

One of his first segments was a withering review of a then new Ford, which led to a showdown between the show's producer and a PR rep from the Blue Oval.

Unsurprisingly, Ford wanted Clarkson censured for giving its car a good kicking, but the producer, apparently, said something along the lines of “OK, I can do that. And then your next car will be featured on a show watched by a few hundred thousand people. Or I can let him off the leash and your next car will be featured on a show watched by several million…”

The Ford exec took a deep breath, and agreed.

A few million? No, Top Gear, re-invented by Clarkson and his producer and friend Andy Wilman in 2002, has gone on to be a ratings juggernaut for the BBC.

Not only does it regularly attract six to eight million viewers in its Sunday night slot, but in overseas markets those figures swell to as many as 400-million viewers per episode.

It is by far one of the most watched television programmes in the world and has led to spin offs such as Australian and American editions of the show, and a hugely successful monthly magazine.

Is that now all over? Has Clarkson’s latest faux pas, fracas or controversy (take your pick) finally undermined the empire which he largely built? Certainly, Clarkson has never been one for taking the easy, conciliatory path.

Way back in the Performance Car days he would frequently write columns which were nothing to do with cars, but actually were political polemics, raging against the British Labour Party and singing the praises of Margaret Thatcher.

Once upon a time, Clarkson sought to stretch beyond the bounds of Top Gear and branched out into other presenting duties. Car-based shows such as Jeremy Clarkson's Motorworld and Speed were generally well received, as were two hour-long WWII documentaries about the awarding of the Victoria Cross and the famed commando raid on St Nazaire.

A talk show crashed and burned though, and Clarkson retreated for a time to magazine and book work, along with regular columns in Murdoch publications such as the Sun and the Sunday Times.

When new Top Gear came along in 2002 though, Clarkson's star really began to rise and he began a march towards a personal fortune estimated at £15 million.

In spite of telling the BBC in an interview that “I’m literally not the slightest bit interested in money. I just don’t pay any attention to money, it’s rather vulgar”, Clarkson has significant business interests, including a production company - Bedder 6 - which he co-owns with Wilman, book sales (estimated to reach something like £4.5 million a year) and property. He can command as much as £20,000 for an engagement on the after-dinner speaking circuit and his BBC salary for Top Gear duties is reckoned to be £1 million, which may be regarded as rather good value if divided by the number of viewers.

Foot in mouth syndrome has always plagued him, though it's occasionally hard to know exactly what is a gaffe and what is a deliberate, publicity-baiting jibe. He (along with co-presenters Richard Hammond and James May) are regularly accused of misogyny and xenophobia and comments suggesting that Mexican people are all lazy actually sparked something of a diplomatic incident.

The Top Gear crew was threatened out of Argentina last year when a car being used for filming was accused of having a numberplate that referred to the Falklands War while Clarkson was given his last chance when he appeared to use a racist term in an unaired out-take involving a children’s nursery rhyme.

This latest controversy appears to fall under a very different category.

Clarkson is accused to slapping a BBC producer who had, apparently, forgotten to lay on food for the filming team.

While it has been suggested that there is ‘wiggle room’ for both parties here, as the incident is not insulting and has nothing to do with broadcasting the show, the BBC will have to grind through a lengthy internal complaints procedure, and Clarkson could potentially face assault charges.

For now, the current series has been suspended with three episodes yet to air, with no indication of when the remaining shows (which still have studio links and Star In A Reasonably Priced Car segments to film) will be shown.

The fact that this is, effectively, an internal matter for the BBC to sort out could yet save Clarkson's hide, and resurrect Top Gear anew.

Certainly, even those in the corporation who dislike Clarkson cannot ignore the ratings effect and international sales of Top Gear, but there are signs that this could well signal the end for the show.

The knives have been out for Clarkson for some time, and with Sky reportedly making repeated offers to all three presenters to jump ship, this could well be the final reckoning.

The combative, stubborn nature that ensured Jeremy Clarkson’s early popularity might just have finally cost him his job.